Public voting opens for the Ultimate Game of the Year award

(Image credit: Future)

Public voting has now opened for the Ultimate Game of the Year, the big kahuna of this year's 40th anniversary Golden Joystick Awards. Voting is only open for five days and this is to select the gaming community's favourite title of the year.

Yes, as we all know, there's a certain game rhyming with 'Seldom Bling' that will be a serious candidate indeed. But then here's your chance to make sure there's at least one gong it misses out on.

The winner will be revealed on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 in an awards show broadcast on all major streaming platforms including Twitch and YouTube, and GamesRadar+ at 12 pm PST/3 pm EST/8 pm GMT. The Golden Joystick Awards presented by GamesRadar+, are the world's longest-running public-voted video games awards, attracting millions of votes every year. The awards are run by Future, PC Gamer's parent company.

Voting has already ended in 17 categories including 'Best Storytelling' and 'Best Studio', but this is the one they all want. The nominees for Ultimate Game of the Year are:

Elden Ring
Gran Turismo 7
Horizon Forbidden West
Immortality
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
God of War Ragnarok
Return to Monkey Island
Teardown
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Bayonetta 3
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Neon White

"Now voting begins in our most-coveted award, the Ultimate Game of the Year, and it’s notable how indie gaming hasn’t lost its seat at the table," said Daniel Dawkins, content director of games & film at Future. "Over a quarter of our Ultimate Game of the Year nominees were crafted by smaller teams, from the inventive first-person puzzle platformer Neon White, to a gleeful sandbox of destructible voxels in Teardown.

"The Golden Joystick Awards are the people’s gaming awards, and held in such high esteem since they are voted for by the people who really matter—the gaming public. I can’t stress enough how every vote makes a difference, with previous year’s winners being separated by less than 20 or 30 votes. Every game is an absurd, creative, and organizational miracle; and the GJAs are humbled to reward the developers who dedicate their lives to making them."

You can vote here now, and voting will end this Friday at 3 pm PST /6 pm EST / 11 pm GMT.

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."